This Cranberry Chocolate Truffle Cake is a nice change from typical cranberry desserts. It showcases tart cranberries paired with dark fudgey chocolate cake and embellished with shiny chocolate glaze and chocolate leaves!
Pumpkin pie? Yawn.
Apple pie? Snore.
Pecan pie? Stop it right now.
No offense, but what your boring Thanksgiving needs—and I’m telling you this as a friend—is Cranberry Chocolate Truffle Cake. We have enough fruit and nuts stuffed in pastry crusts, we need some down-and-dirty, too-rich-for-my-blood, pass-the-milk-no-not-a-glass-the-whole-carton chocolate desserts up in here!
It may not be the most traditional Thanksgiving dessert, but we all know that if the Pilgrims had access to glorious bars of semi-sweet chocolate on the regular, they would have made chocolate cake the centerpiece of their Thanksgiving table. I’m married to an American history professor, and that is an absolute fact.*
*The marriage part. The chocolate part I totally made up.
But we’ll save the fabricated facts for the next episode of Drunk History, and stick with what I know to be true: how awesome this cake is.
This is a chocoholic’s fondest dream, and a chocophobe’s worst nightmare. (But if you’re a chocophobe, you’ve probably given up this website long ago. And also? Seek help.) The cake is a relative of the deep, dense flourless chocolate cake, although it does contain a little bit of flour. Mostly, though, it contains chocolate. Sweet, sweet chocolate, mixed with eggs and butter and cranberry sauce, and yielding a moist interior with the texture of a rich chocolate truffle. Restrained it is not.
The cake is topped with a homemade cranberry jelly, the perfect balance of sweet and tart to cut through the chocolate, and is finished with a shiny chocolate glaze. Don’t be fooled by the large piece you see below—this baby is best enjoyed in small slivers, because it’s so rich. A 9-inch cake could easily feed 12-16 people, especially if they’re also sampling other desserts.
Finally, I finished the cake with some lovely chocolate leaves and fresh cranberries. The leaves are surprisingly easy to make (basically: coat leaves with chocolate, peel off leaves) but, when brushed with a light layer of luster dust, add the perfect glamorous gourmet touch.
💖More Delightful Desserts
- Cranberry Orange Sauce
- Brown Sugar Cranberry Cake
- Peppermint Patty Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Orange Cake
- Cranberry White Chocolate Sweetie Pies
- Cranberry Orange Bread Pudding
- Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate
- How to Make Chocolate Leaves
Cranberry Curd Almond Cake
Cranberry Chocolate Truffle Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
- 4 oz unsalted butter, (1/2 cup), cubed
- 6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided use
- 8 oz whole berry cranberry sauce, (3/4 cup), homemade or store-bought
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the Cranberry Jelly:
- 12 oz cranberries, fresh or defrosted from frozen
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup water
For the Chocolate Glaze:
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
To Make the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Use a 9-inch cake pan with a removable bottom, or a 9-inch springform pan. Line the pan with parchment paper and spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place the chocolate and butter together in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until melted, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating. Stir until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.
- Combine the egg yolks and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in the bowl of a large mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. (Alternately, you can use a mixing bowl and a hand mixer with whisk attachments.) Whip the yolks and sugar until they’re thick, a light yellow color, and drip from the whisk in a thick ribbon when you pull it up out of the yolks.
- Fold the yolks into the lukewarm chocolate, and gently stir until most of the streaks are gone. Add the cranberry sauce, flour, vanilla extract, and salt, and carefully fold them in.
- Wash and dry the mixing bowl and whisk you used for the yolks, and place the egg whites in the bowl. Whip on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, then gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar, a spoonful at a time, until the whites hold firm peaks and have the texture of shaving cream.
- Fold the whites into the chocolate in three batches. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 32-35 minutes, until puffed, dry on top, and there are small cracks along the sides.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely at room temperature. The cake can be made several days in advance and kept, well-wrapped, in the refrigerator until ready to assemble.
To Make the Cranberry Jelly:
- Combine the cranberries, sugar, and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook the berries, stirring occasionally, until they all “pop” and you have a thick, bubbling mixture. Pour the berries through a wire mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing down on the skins to force all of the liquid through the strainer. Press a layer of cling wrap on top of the jelly, and cool to room temperature. Jelly can be made up to a week in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
To Make the Chocolate Glaze and Assemble:
- Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl, and put the cream into a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the cream to a simmer, and when it’s almost boiling, pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for a minute to soften the chocolate. Whisk gently until the chocolate melts and the glaze is shiny and smooth. Make this right before you’re ready to glaze the cake.
- To assemble the cake, use a spoon to scoop out about a half-inch of the top of the cake, leaving a thin border around the sides, where the cranberry jelly will go. (If your cake has collapsed during the baking process, this is the one time when that isn’t a bad thing! Instead of scooping out a hole, and you can just put the jelly in the sunken area on top.) If the jelly has been chilled, stir it briefly and then spoon it into the cavity on top of the cake, smoothing it into an even layer.
- Place the cake on a cardboard round the size of the cake, then put it on a wire rack. Pour the hot glaze over the cake, using a spatula to spread it to the edge and push it down to coat the sides. Let the cake set at room temperature for several minutes before transferring it to the refrigerator to chill completely. Decorate with chocolate leaves, chocolate curls, cranberries, and/or whipped cream.
- This cake is very rich, so it’s best enjoyed in small slices. Use a large sharp chef’s knife to cut it in slices, and for the cleanest cuts, wash the blade with hot water between cuts.
- Store Cranberry Chocolate Truffle Cake well-wrapped in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Recipe Notes
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Nutrition
Hey you! I absolutely love these decorations!! Your cakes is really beautiful!!!!! I love the texture and I´m not lying.. I can actually smell & taste it through this screen.. YUM 🙂
Have a great week!!
Xx
Thanks Johlene! I think there’s not much better than a chocolate truffle cake–for me, the deeper, more intense chocolate flavor, the better!
Elizabeth, this cake is absolutely gorgeous. So much better than pie! And of course your decorations are so simple yet so effective.
Thanks Rochelle! I have ALWAYS been a cake > pie girl, and I don’t see that changing any time soon!
What an elegant cake! The leaves are so detailed. Hmmm. My inlaws might appreciate something like this, since last year my apple pie slid off the passenger seat and onto the car floor. We just called it. . . Apple Smash.
Apple Smash, I love it!! You invented a new dessert without even trying. I can’t believe your inlaws could love anything more than they love Apple Smash.
This cake is GORGEOUS!!!! Oh my gosh, I love everything about it. It’s so festive. Not to mention the fact that I adore fruit/chocolate combos and am always trying to figure out what in the heck to do with cranberries. I can’t wait to try this 🙂 I’m totally going to check out your leaf tutorial- those would be awesome on so many desserts!
Thanks Amy–I am OBSESSED with cranberries and am really trying to hold back and not make all cranberry desserts, all the time! So glad to have a fellow chocolate/fruit appreciator in the house. And yes, the leaves are awesome–super simple, pretty fast, and the best part is they look complicated, so people will think you’re a chocolate ninja.
Stop it! That cake looks amazing, and those leaves…just beautiful. Great post and great collection!
Thanks Damaris, but to quote Miley Cyrus, “We caaaannnn’t stop…” (No teddy bears were harmed in the leaving of that comment.) I love my Foodie collections–glad to spread the word!
Oh, how I love this! I tried to do a cranberry-chocolate bundt cake last year. Mess. But I’ve been obsessed with the combo ever since, and you’ve pulled it off so well here! Snaps, girl.
P.S. Drunk History is the greatest! “Abraham Lincoln wanted you to have this. It’s his favorite f-ing walking stick.”
Of COURSE you love Drunk History, since we’re pop culture twinners! And I agree– chocolate + cranberries = true love. I think you need to revisit that bundt cake, I would love to see a chocolate-cranberry version!
Oh my, this looks like the best Thankgiving dessert ever… So rich and delicious! And I bet that those cranberries would add such a lovely tartness which I’m sure that it goes fantastic with chocolate.
I’m drooling over here, this couldn’t look any more amazing! ;D
Thanks Consuelo! We always do Thanksgiving with friends, and I’m always the one bringing cake when everyone else brings pies, haha. 🙂 This might be my contribution this year!
what a beautiful cake!
Thanks so much, Kim!
Amen to the fruits and nuts stuffed into pastry crust!! This gorgeous and will be replacing some of my pies (still can’t quite completely give up the berry pie just yet:) )
I don’t blame you–berry pie is amazing! It’s really pumpkin I have a problem with…but I’ll save that fight for another blog post. 🙂 Thanks Jackie!
Gorgeous cake! Love that you paired chocolate with cranberries. I looks heavenly! Your chocolate leaves are beautiful as well! I’ve never made them, but now I want to. 🙂
Thanks Beth! They are seriously SO easy. The trick is to find leaves with a pretty distinct vein pattern–makes them really stand out. Let me know if you give them a try!